Former Queensland police officer Rick Flori and social justice advocate Renee Eaves after Flori was found not guilty of misconduct.
Photograph: Dave Hunt/AAP

A former Queensland police sergeant who leaked footage of officers bashing a handcuffed man in a Gold Coast station basement has been found not guilty of misconduct.

Rick Flori was acquitted of the charge by a majority 11-1 verdict by a jury on Wednesday following a six-day trial at the Southport district court.

Flori, who has since resigned from the Queensland police service, said he released the footage of the January 2012 arrest to cast a spotlight on illegal practices within the force.

Flori released footage of police at the Surfers Paradise station bashing a handcuffed man, Noa Begic, in a basement car park in January 2012.

Once the footage was run by the Courier-Mail, an internal investigation led to a search of Flori’s home where the footage was located on an SD card.

Flori told investigators he had acquired the footage for “training purposes” and denied knowing anything about the email address used to arrange the leak with a journalist.

Crown prosecutor Todd Fuller said Flori was upset at being overlooked for a promotion to senior sergeant in 2011.

Once he realised the footage included the man who had been given the promotion at his expense, Senior Sergeant David Joachim, he set about leaking it to discredit his rival, Fuller argued.

Fuller said that, in the email sent to the journalist, Flori failed to mention any of the other officers involved except for Joachim, despite Senior Constable Ben Lamb being the man who kneed and punched Begic.